Ninth Circuit Rejects Erroneous Grounds for Denying Class Certification

In Bateman v. American Multi-Cinema, Inc., --- F.3d --- (9th Cir., September 27, 2010), the Court held that the district court abused its discretion in denying class certification in lawsuit based on defendant’s printing of more than the last five digits of consumers’ credit or debit card numbers on electronically printed receipts in violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. The Court held that none of the grounds relied on by the district court – the disproportionality between the potential liability and the actual harm suffered, the enormity of the potential damages, or the defendant’s good faith compliance with the Act after the action was filed – justified the denial of class certification on superiority grounds and that the district court abused its discretion in relying on them.

The full opinion is available here.